Japan’s Former Leader Urges Political Debate on Nuclear Ban

By Anna Mukai -
Jun 23, 2012

Former Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who
last year presided over the initial response to Japan’s biggest
crisis since World War II, today urged the nation’s political
leaders to debate banning nuclear power generation.

Submission of legislation on a nuclear-free mix of energy
sources would mean each party, or even individual members of the
Diet, would have to show support or opposition, Kan, 65, said in
Tokyo.

“Forming a green party may be one option,” Kan said at a
symposium at International Christian University. “We could have
significant influence through a political force in which every
single member supports a nuclear-free Japan.”

A government body deliberating energy supply after the 2011
Fukushima disaster proposed four scenarios last month, including
one that would end the use of nuclear power by 2030. Japan is
reopening plants after business leaders warned power outages may
lead to factory closures and slow economic growth.

Nuclear plants provided 26 percent of the country’s
electricity and renewable sources accounted for 11 percent for
the year ended March 2011, according to the panel’s draft
report.

Prior to the disaster, the government aimed by 2030 to
increase electricity supplied by nuclear power to 45 percent and
clean energy to 20 percent.

Nuclear-Free

Under the nuclear-free scenario, wind and solar power would
provide 12 percent and 6 percent of Japan’s electricity,
respectively, according to estimates in the report. Hydropower
would account for 11 percent, while geothermal energy would
provide 4 percent, it said.

Two other scenarios included nuclear, with one option for
Japan to get about 15 percent of its electricity from atomic
energy, while the other proposed between 20 percent to 25
percent. The panel also recommended a scenario with no numerical
targets for specific energy sources, instead allowing market
forces and mechanisms to decide.

Since stepping down last August, Kan serves as an adviser
to the Tokyo-based Renewable Energy Research Association.

“I have two infant grandchildren, and I don’t want them to
have to live with nuclear power plants,” Kan said.